Celebrating a Centennial – The National Park Service in Gettysburg, Pa.

January 29, 2016

By Carl Whitehill – This year marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, a program that for a century has preserved and interpreted natural and cultural landscapes throughout the United States.

In Gettysburg, Pa., the National Park Service has protected much of the region’s most hallowed grounds – from the nationally renowned Gettysburg National Military Park and Soldiers’ National Cemetery to individual historic sites such as the Eisenhower National Historic Site, the David Wills House and the Gettysburg Lincoln Train Station.

Over the past 100 years, the National Park Service has created that ever-important sense of place for tens of millions of visitors from around the world who want to step foot where the one of the most significant times in American history happened.

As part of the National Park Service’s centennial anniversary, Americans and international visitors alike are invited to “Find Your Park,” a campaign that encourages visitation to the country’s hundreds of national parks and national historic sites, in addition to their local and state parks.

Destination Gettysburg sat down with Christopher Gwinn, Supervisory Ranger for Interpretation and Education with Gettysburg National Military Park, to get his perspective on this centennial anniversary as well as what makes Gettysburg National Military Park and the surrounding region special to so many visitors.

About the AuthorA resident of Adams County, Pa., for nine years, Carl Whitehill is still finding nooks and crannies of the Gettysburg countryside to tire out his two young – and energetic – boys. Always on the search for ways to keep his crazy family active and adventurous, Carl prefers to lace up his hiking boots over firing up the car for a ride, but opts for going out for ice cream over a cold beer (almost) any day. He lives in Littlestown, Pa., with his wife, Kim, and sons – Colin and Christian.